Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-11-05
MA>HEs OF MEXICAN GIRLS.
Peculiar Way of Making Love an,
Selecting Partners.

Peculiar Way of Making Love and
Selecting Partners.
Many interesting stories could be told
of the cascarone balls of the past, but only
one viii be mentioned as an instance of
the popularity of this peculiar feature of
the balls. On one occasion, at a ball given
at the residence of Don Jose Abrego, in
Monterey, Cal, Pete Serrano, then a
muchacho, was on hand selling cascarones.
gentleman approached and asked what
he would take for his cascarones.
One dollar dozen,n was the answer.
How many have you?" was the next
inquiry.
Forty Dozen"
"All right, Pll take them"
Taking the basket he started down the
hall, but had not taken dozen staps when
he was surrounded by number of Young
ladies, and in moment all hands were
diving into the basket, coming out with
double handfuls and crashing them on his
head, while he manfully strove to return
a few of the compliments he received. In
hve minutes not one of the forty dozen
cascarones remained whole.
The modus operandi of cascarone maxi
ing is very simple and about as follows:
Into an empty eggshell-whole, except for
an opening in one end Just large enough to
remove the original contents-is placed
about 2 teaspoontul of finely chopped paper
of various bright colors and gold tinsel;
then the opening is neatly closed by past
ing piece of colored paper over it, and
then the cascarone is all ready for use. In
Mexico, in the good old times, gold dust
mixed with diamond dust was often used
to till the eggshells at the swell faudangoes
given by the old grandees And it is done
occasionally nowadays by some of the
wealthy old dons who wish to do the thing
up in style.
Another way of filling the shells was to
| use finely perfumed powder, and sometimes
rare and costly perfumes We're used. Very
| often the shells were beautifully decorated
| and sometimes hand-painted. In Mont
Grey, before the decline of the Gust I'M, the
| shells were often colored in fancifui de-
Signs, like Easter eggs, and at other times
| tastefully decorated with different colors of
paper. Chopped paper and tinsel we're
/ usually put in the shells, but on more than
one occasion gold dollar pieces were used
One in each shell. Spiced candy was
often used, and sometimes powder and per-
fumery. Housewives religiously save the
shells of all the eggs they use and put
them away until cascarone season comes
around.
In cascarone breaking it is not necessary
that one should be acquainted-in fact, it
is 4 sort of "mashing" proceeding all
through. The act of breaking cascarone
on another's head is to be considered
compliment by the recipient, who is in
honor bound to return it at the first oppor-
tunity. The proper way to break them is
to crush the shell in the hand over the
persons head, allowing its contents TO fall
on the head. In the excitement, however,
the shell is more frequently broken on the
head, regardless of locality or force used,
and is oftentimes suggestive of anything
but amiable feeling on the part of the be-
slower. When the ice is broken by some
adventurous maiden or plucky man the
contagion soon spreads, and in a very
short time everybody is chasing around
the room breaking cascarones indiscrimi-
nately and receiving them from all sides.
These mock battles usually occur between
dances.--EGchdnge.